In this dissertation, I argue that the shifting cultural signification of food in early-nineteenth-century England generates literary responses which frame crucial debates of Romanticism. As the emphasis of eating moves from a dietetic to an aesthetic one, the discourses surrounding food form a constitutive part of class identity, which in turn relies on definitions of aesthetic value. Gastronomy redraws the lines of middle-class identity in relation to bodily pleasure, and these lines correspond to literary engagements with materiality.
The intersection of literary and gastronomic aesthetics shows how the logic of materiality always informs Romantic aspirations for aesthetic transcendence. Thus the attempt to separate transcendence from material aesthetics falters when broaching the topic through the terms established by food discourse. Lord Byrons wariness of aesthetic transcendence, posed frequently in his poetry, receives an analog in his obsession with his weight and his resulting idiosyncratic eating habits. John Keats, who frequently offers sensual images of food in his poetry, engages with the discourse of gastronomy in order to interrogate the fundamental dilemma of Romanticismthat aesthetic transcendence must be achieved through materiality. In the realm of political economy, Thomas Mathuss assertion that eating functions only biologically ignores the social implications of eating raised by gourmands, and taken up by Thomas De Quincey in his writings on bodily aesthetic experience.
Ultimately, in this dissertation I trace how the formation of literary taste in the Romantic period emerges out of gastronomic discourse, and how the principles of gourmandism impinge on the assumptions of Romantic ideology. And yet, like Romanticism with its multivalent associations, gastronomy too signifies multiply. Instead of one monolithic discourse of food, many exist simultaneously and symbiotically, and this wide range of significations makes Romantic authors engagements with food equally diverse.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-07242009-114244 |
| Date | 27 July 2009 |
| Creators | Rejack, Brian |
| Contributors | Mark Schoenfield, Jonathan Lamb, Jay Clayton, James Epstein |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-07242009-114244/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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